Story by Pete Shaw If there are guidelines for listening sessions on hot-button issues, clearly none were deployed during the February 21 event at NE Portland’s Maranatha Church that was hastily arranged by Police Chief Danielle Outlaw. The listening session was called due to reports in Portland Mercury and Willamette Week detailing a series of…
Story by Pete Shaw Thanks to Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty, Amanda Fritz, and Chloe Eudaly, the Portland City Council voted on Wednesday, February 13 to remove Portland from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The 3-2 decision marks the second time Portland has decided the risks of using its police in cooperation with the…
Story by Pete Shaw Portland has a multiple personality disorder when it comes to its relationship with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). It refuses to join, then it joins, then it leaves, then it partially rejoins, and then it again fully joins. And now it is once more considering leaving the task force.…
Story by Pete Shaw The corner of Northeast 6th and Halsey is hallowed ground. It is not the site of a mosque or a temple or a church or any other house of worship. There have been no reports of visits by the Blessed Virgin Mary or other religiously affiliated revelations, whether out of thin…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Always bring a crowd. In many cases, that is sound advice. A month ago, when Francisco Aguirre was checking in at the administrative offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) which are located in the ICE prison on SW Macadam, two people accompanied him to his appointment.…
Story by Pete Shaw “And to those who silence and erase survivors, I would like to say, ‘Never question what someone else did to survive in the face of such trauma. Instead, question the assailant. Question the system. Question rape culture. If you are blaming the victim, you’re on the wrong side of the issue.…
Story by Pete Shaw I celebrate Thanksgiving. No, I do not get traditionally festive by wearing hats with buckles and pretending that the holiday itself is based in anything other than colonialism, imperialism, racism, misogyny, and white supremacy. But as a person who in general is extremely thankful for knowing good people doing great things…
Text and photos by Pete Shaw October 17, 2018 Dear Cyndy and Josh, La memòria és important. Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is where a piece of canvas comes to life. Nearly two weeks ago we were in Madrid’s Reina Sofia, a former hospital turned modern art museum. It houses Picasso’s “Guernica,” that masterpiece of…
Text and photos by Pete Shaw October 12, 2018 Dear Margaret, I speak Spanish. This is a truth. An even greater truth would be to say that I speak it poorly. Languages are not my thing. I never got down programming a computer. I can’t read music. And I took seven years of Spanish to…
Text and photos by Pete Shaw October 6, 2018 Dear Dad, Spain makes a lot of olive oil. This I have known, but now it is something I understand to my core. Halfway through this four-point-five hour bus ride between Madrid and Granada, nearly every spot of land that is not residential is an…
